Chapter 44: 44 The First Test, Part Two

The lights above blazed like it was midday. Angharad had already done so much she felt dizzy and tired, her knees threatening to fail under her.

In the distance she saw the people alighting from the downed craft. Something about the way one of them moved was vaguely familiar. The crowd around them ebbed and flowed like a shoal of fish.

There was a lot of dust in the place that had been between the barriers. Probably all sorts of noxious chemicals. Maybe there needed to be some sort of official clean up crew; she wasn't going to be heading it up. Lots of people in uniforms were moving about, so maybe they could sort things out while she had a nap.

She moved one step back in the vague hope of stumbling toward the hospital, and her movement was cut off as a body slammed into her. And then another. Oh, Gemma and Mac. Angharad wasn't going to say no to the group hug.

"Oh my god, you did it!" Mac squealed.

"I guess I did," Angharad said.

"You know, I try not to get too intense," Gemma said, "but you were really cool."

"I just," Angharad tried to think what she'd done, and shrugged and waved her hands in a hopeless gesture, "sort of entered a maze and answered some questions. It wasn't a big deal. Anyone would have done it."

"But you were the one who did it," Mac said.

"Okay," Angharad said. "And for my next trick I'm going to rescue Jin from the dire social situation I suspect he's going to put himself in."

"Go you!" Mac said, and punched Angharad's shoulder. Ow, that was harder than she expected. She stumbled a little before she righted herself and walked off.

Jin was definitely getting awkward as he straightened his clothes and pretended to be casual. Then he stuck a hand out to his secret girlfriend like he wanted to shake hands. Oh, it was dire. Even Freya looked amused. Angharad had to save him immediately.

She walked right up to them and said, "Hi. It's so much nicer to see you without, like, layers of distortion between us."

"I could not agree more!" Freya said. She had a cute voice, friendly and energetic, light but not too light.

Jin looked so wary that Angharad couldn't help bursting into laughter. "Relax. We're not going to team up on you. Yet. You have, like, entire days before that happens."

"Great. Who doesn't love losing control of their life?" But he looked around at the crowd as he said it. There was an older woman in the same uniform he and Freya wore talking to the doctor. It wasn't difficult to figure out she was the one Jin was actually worried about dealing with.

"We should go somewhere and get to know each other better," Freya said.

"Oh, well, I guess I was going to go to the hosp... Oh! One of the robots got unhooked while stuff was happening. We have to put him back in place. I promised."

"Then let's go," Jin said, eyes still darting around the crowd.

Freya bounced on the spot. "Okay! I like this plan."

*

The cafeteria looked less of a mess than Angharad expected once they'd pushed their way through the crowds. It felt more quiet and empty than she expected, though, with one robot still toppled over, its old party hat resting on the dirty floor, and the other two standing perfectly still.

"I guess everyone else that was in here went outside," Angharad said.

The kitchen seemed dark and foreboding in a way it hadn't before. That was probably a sign one of the lights had blown. Angharad carefully manoeuvred her way behind the counter to check that no wires had torn apart before she plugged everything back in. She was careful with her fingers as she moved through the space. Objects had been tossed about by the shaking, like the butcher knife on the floor that she carefully avoided stepping near. A fork had come to a resting place uncomfortably close to the four outlet power board.

"So this is what you guys have over on this side? I think it's cool," Freya said.

"Don't you have something like this on the other side of Zapville?" Jin asked.

Angharad carefully plugged the robot back in. Ugh, everything was so gross back here, like it hadn't been properly cleaned in weeks. She would have to wash her hands for days.

"Zapville? I like it! That's cute," Freya said.

"I came up with it," Jin said.

"He did," Angharad said, as she stood. "I couldn't talk him into something better."

"We have no proper kitchen and no hospital on the other side. There's a microwave in the gymnasium and a large store of frozen food stuffs but nothing like this," Freya said.

Angharad felt like she could see Jin's brain working.

"What do you think, Jin? Does the gymnasium fit better into your theory or Josephine's? I mean, I don't even remember what yours was," Angharad said.

Six months ago she would have been able to vault herself over the counter, no problems. On this day she either had to ever-so-carefully make her way around it and squeeze through the tiny gap between it and the wall again, or slowly lift herself over the counter in the most embarrassing and effort-filled way possible. It was kind of a hassle.

"I know it can't be yours because you guessed prison camp," he said.

"Oh, please, like all the prison movies have exercise yards. That means nothing," Angharad said.

Freya tilted her head, purple-black hair shining in the light. "Do you watch a lot of prison movies?"

Angharad shrugged and rolled her neck. Her head still felt damp and warm.

"My friend Justin at home likes the independent ones where they drop the soap. I mean, not porn. I mean, he probably also likes gay porn set in fantasy prisons. No, I'm talking about, like, weird foreign language films. And also there was that one old TV show he liked, but it was way too violent for me. And then there was..."

"Nobody cares," Jin said.

The world moved around her without her permission and she realised, a second later, that he'd picked her up and pulled her over the counter without even asking. I guess he got sick of me struggling to move, she thought, as he leaned her against one wall.

"Okay, well, if you're doing that then it's a sign I need to go to the hospital again," Angharad said.

"Oh, oh, can I lift her this time?" Freya asked.

Angharad laughed. "I'm always willing to let a strong, beautiful woman carry me places."

"Don't hit on my—" Jin cleared his throat. "My friend. Don't hit on this person I am friends with."

"Subtle," Angharad said. "Nobody will ever pick up the subtext there."

Behind them, the kitchen robots finally started to move again.

*

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Angharad didn't really need to be carried but she let Freya lift her the last few steps anyway.

"You know, I'm sure the doctor's busy. You can probably just dump me on Tsuyoshi."

"He's not a real doctor," Jin said, voice flat.

"I know that! But, like, I'm pretty sure I don't have an actual problem, so that's okay!"

The doctor, when they managed to find her, didn't agree.

"You're a little warm," Dr Yeoh said, hands cool and efficient, "and I was under the impression you'd regained more energy than this. I assume you have whatever Jin had, and the excitement of this morning didn't help."

"Thanks, Jin. I super wanted to get sick. Thanks for ruining stuff."

"This is not my fault!" he protested.

"Oh, please, you walked about getting your sick germs on everyone. Now it's going to go through the whole camp." At least this meant an excuse to go back to bed. She was basically dying for a nap. "Wait, we should ask how Sophie's doing."

Was that the hint of a fond smirk on the doctor's face? Angharad knew she was wearing down that gruff exterior.

"Your friend is fine, merely sleeping. I left her in the care of Ibrahim, who seems as responsible as anyone here is going to be," Dr Yeoh said.

"Who's Ibrahim?" Jin asked, face scrunched up.

"Oh, he's from my side of the camp," Freya said. "He, um... Well, he's definitely dedicated to making sure young people don't get hurt. He has strong opinions on that. I heard him mention them once to, uh..."

Dr Yeoh swallowed. "My son, yes. I gathered they have quite the interesting friendship. Well, I suppose my son is morally upstanding. I needn't worry, nor should you."

"Okay, but, like, what does he do?" Angharad asked.

The doctor turned away to re-organise a pile of instruments. "I gather he's some kind of cleaner. Removes unnecessary elements of cluttered systems."

"What does that mean?" Angharad asked, more confused than ever.

"Do you mean political assassinations?" Jin asked.

"Wow, that's, like, a huge jump," Angharad said.

"Get out of my hospital," Dr Yeoh said. "I'm very busy with the new arrivals and you are cluttering up my building when you don't need to be"

"It's very nice to meet you, doctor," Freya said.

"Actually," Dr Yeoh said, turning to look at her. "You can stay. I'll add you to my spreadsheet."

"I'm honoured to be able to help you however I can," Freya said.

Angharad had to grab Jin by the arm to drag him out just so he'd leave Freya behind with the doctor.

*

"Okay, that was super weird," Angharad said, as soon as they were outside the hospital.

"She's always weird," Jin said.

"The whole thing was weird. Whatever, I'm going back to bed."

"I can help you there."

"What, like you don't want to weirdly linger outside this building until Freya comes out?"

He scoffed and looked away. "Of course I do."

She sighed. "I can make it back to bed on my own."

She started walking away before he could talk back. It wasn't like she needed an escort for everything. She was just fine finding her way to her own bedroom. Were people going to treat her like an invalid forever?

She didn't go far before she found Josephine in her path.

Angharad pushed her hair behind her ear and bit her lip. Stood up straight when she realised she was starting to slouch. "Hi."

"I'm very impressed with what you managed to do!" Josephine said.

"Okay, people have to stop that or it's going to get weird. I literally just answered some questions and got lucky. Anyone could have done it."

"Well, of course, I would have stepped into a puzzle box if it had been required of me," Josephine said, grin wide. "But it is you that undertook this task and succeeded."

"You know, I'm totally ill right now, so the longer you spend talking to me the more chance you'll get sick, too."

"Not I! I never get sick. My constitution is a stone wall, built hard by many years of daily exercise and careful diet. Even days in the presence of Jin did not weaken the defences of my body." Josephine clenched a fist as if her fist itself could punch sickness away. It made Angharad want to laugh, but then her defences against Josephine would be down, and that wouldn't be good.

"Okay, well, I have what he has, apparently, so I just want to get some rest without talking this much."

"You have what—" Josephine looked away and cleared her throat. "I see. How did you... Ah, I suppose it doesn't matter."

"He probably got everyone sick."

"Well, I suppose a champion does deserve to have some rest. And I, your humble servant, shall accompany you to make sure nobody tries to talk with you until you get to your room."

That was maybe not a bad idea. "Okay. I accept. Protect me from from anyone trying to talk to me, like a bodyguard does with a pop star. I'm cool with this fantasy."

"Make way for Miss Silver and her important business," Josephine said, voice light, as she fell into step with Angharad.

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